VOA慢速英语 2007 1118b

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES - Water: She Is In Hot Water
By Marilyn Christiano / Broadcast: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:00:00 UTC
Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant¹ meanings.

The expression to be in hot water is one of them. It is a very old expression. Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing boiling water down on enemies attacking a castle.

That no longer the custom. But we still get inhot water. When we are in hot water, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble--serious, and not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he comes into the house with dirty, wet shoes.

Being in deep water is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in difficulty². Imagine a swimmer in water over his head who cannot reach the shore.

You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. The problem is too deep for you. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest³ in stocks⁵ without knowing anything about the stock⁴ market.

To keep your head above water is a colorful expression that means⁶ staying out of debt⁷. A company that can keep its head above water can survive economic hard times.

Water over the dam is an expression about a past event. It is something that is over and done with. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has fallen over a dam cannot be brought back again.

When a friend is troubled by a mistake he has made, you might tell him to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam.

Another common expression, to hold water, is about the strength or weakness of an idea, opinion or argument. It probably comes from the way of testing the condition of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong. The expression is used the same way to describe an idea or argument. If the argument can hold water, it is solid⁸ and strong without any holes. If it does not hold water, then it is weak and cannot be proved.

Throwing cold water also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals⁹. It means not to like an idea. For example, you want to buy a new computer, so you can do some of your work at home. But your wife throws cold water on the idea, because a computer costs too much.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 unpleasant   

adj.使人不愉快的，使人厌恶的，煞风景的

参考例句：

• A very unpleasant thing has happened.一件令人很不愉快的事发生了。
• The kind advices are often unpleasant to the ear.好言常常不入耳。

2 difficulty   

n.困难，费劲；难事，难题；麻烦，困境

参考例句：

• If there is any difficulty,please let us know promptly.倘有困难，请迅速通知我们。
• A little difficulty like this is nothing to us.这点困难算不了什么。

3 invest   

v.投资；投入(时间等)；授予，赋予

参考例句：

• I have decided to invest in a new car.我已经决定买一辆新汽车。
• The best time to invest is now.现在是投资的最佳时机。

4 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

5 stocks   

n.（树木等的）干( stock的名词复数 )；公债；家系；家族

参考例句：

• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse. 经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They want to unload the stocks on the market. 他们想把股票在市场上抛售掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

7 debt   

n.债务，义务，负债状态，罪，过失

参考例句：

• The man was pressed to pay off his debt.那人被逼还债。
• The firm had to charge off the debt as hopeless.公司只得把那笔没希望要回的债务注销。

8 solid   

adj.固体的，结实的，可靠的，实心的；n.固体，实心；adv. 一致地

参考例句：

• Water may change from a liquid to a solid.水可以由液体变为固体。
• I know that James is a solid type of person.我知道詹姆斯是个可信赖的人。

9 proposals   

n.提议( proposal的名词复数 )；推荐；求婚；赞成提案

参考例句：

• The director has given her assent to the proposals. 负责人已表示同意提案。
• The police gave the proposals their full backing. 警方对这些提案给予全力支持。